PSE&G faces legal barrier in reporting bill history

Forget to pay your utility bill and the worst thing you used to have to worry about was having your lights turned off. Now you might have to worry about losing points on your credit score, as well.

Starting in January, PSE&G, the state’s largest utility, is planning on sending customer payment records to Experian, the consumer credit reporting company.

"People who pay their bills late — or not at all — increase costs for everyone," said Joseph Forline, PSE&G vice president of customer operations. "Reporting these accounts on a monthly basis will encourage customers to pay for our services on time, just as they do with other bills."

The utility may have to scale back, or cancel, its plan though.

The problem is a New Jersey law passed in 1999 that forbids utilities from disclosing payment histories without customer consent.

"We have been in conversations with them, pointing out the statute that prohibits it," said Stefanie Brand, the director of the Division of Rate Counsel. "In this day and age, one misstep on your credit history can cost you a mortgage or a job."

A PSE&G spokeswoman said yesterday it is "looking at some issues and comments" on the plan, but declined to say whether the company was changing its plans.

None of the other utilities in the state share payment histories with credit reporting companies, but many utilities tell credit bureaus when accounts are written off as bad debt or referred to a collection agency, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

"This proposal runs counter to public policy in New Jersey, which has regulations and statutes that protect poor and other vulnerable customers," said John Howat, a policy analyst at the NCLC in Boston.

PSE&G said in a news release about the plan that customers who don’t have much credit will be helped by monthly reporting to the credit bureau, citing data from the Political and Economic Research Council, a nonprofit think tank in Durham, N.C.

The value of improving a low income ratepayer’s credit score is not equal to the harm done if they fall into arrears, said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, the state’s largest consumer watchdog agency.

"This winter there will be more people who will be late on their utility bills because they have lost their jobs," said Salowe-Kaye. "Where do they put this in the budget in terms of buying food for their kids."